Boris Johnson news: PM forced to return early from UN as Corbyn demands election following Supreme Court humiliation
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Boris Johnson is returning the UK to face urgent questions in parliament after the Supreme Court declared his government unlawfully shut it down for five weeks.
The prime minister was forced to cut short his trip to the UN General Assembly in New York to attend the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for Mr Johnson to “consider his position” following the landmark decision, while Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said he was “not fit” to be PM.
Speaking in New York, the prime minister said his government will “respect” the court verdict and added that “of course parliament will come back”.
Downing Street confirmed that he had spoken to the Queen by phone but refused to say whether he had apologised for advising her to prorogue parliament.
It was also reported that Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House, had described the ruling as a “constitutional coup”.
See below for our coverage of events as they happened
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster, as we await the verdict of the Supreme Court case on the suspension of parliament. Lady Hale is expected to deliver the ruling at 10.30am this morning.
In a ruling that will have potentially seismic consequences for Boris Johnson and Brexit, the Supreme Court will rule at 10.30am this morning whether the prime minister acted unlawfully when he suspended parliament for five weeks.
Our correspondent Benjamin Kentish has taken a look at the five key questions that will determine the historic case - and shape our immediate political future.
Jeremy Hunt, former foreign secretary and Tory party leadership contender, has called on Boris Johnson to “urgently” resolve the issue of the Tory 21 MPs who lost the whip in rebelling over a no-deal Brexit, urging “generosity” on both sides.
Asked if the PM’s prorogation was appropriate, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I personally think no-one should be particularly surprised if prime ministers take decisions with political considerations in mind.
“I think we will see what the judgment is and the government said that it will be obey the law, but I think the pressing need now, the situation that urgently needs to be resolved, is around the 21 MPs who lost the whip.
“Boris deserves great credit, which I don’t think he gets, for the fact that now for the first time in two years we’re talking about the possibility of getting a majority at a general election."
He added: “To win an election, indeed to get a deal through parliament, indeed ... to weather the storms of no-deal, you need a united party and that’s why I think what we need is generosity actually on both sides. From the government in recognising that as a Conservative Party we have prospered when we have accepted that good Conservatives can have different views on Europe.”
Boris Johnson has refused to rule out suspending parliament for a second time if the verdict goes against him this morning.
He has also hinted he plans to cling to office even if the Supreme Court decides he misled the Queen when he shut down parliament in today’s historic ruling.
Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey defended the process which resulted in Labour adopting a “wait and see” position on whether to support Brexit or remain in the EU at a second Brexit referendum.
Yesterday saw the conference reject a motion by pro-EU delegates for the party to start campaigning for Remain immediately. Despite some initial confusion about the show of hands, Wendy Nichols, chair of Labour’s NEC, was quickly persuaded by close Jeremy Corbyn ally Jennie Formby the Remainers had lost.
Long-Bailey said Nichols was a “very capable chair” and ”if she had any concerns about the vote then no doubt she would have raised it and would have called for the vote again”.
Asked how shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, who supports Remain, could go to Brussels for a Labour government and negotiate a Brexit deal, she told the BBC “Keir is a pragmatist” and “he might believe in remaining but he will still try to get the best possible deal”.
Labour activists in Brighton backed Corbyn’s position, which promises a referendum on a choice between a deal he will negotiate with Brussels or staying in the EU, with the party not making a decision on how it will campaign until a special conference is held.
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson wants to “draw a line” under the party’s conference splits.
In a speech to party members at the Brighton conference today, he will urge Labour to stop infighting and instead focus on tackling the Tories.
The frontbencher is set to provocatively claim Boris Johnson is placing the country in the greatest danger it has faced since being confronted by Hitler’s Nazis in 1940.
Watson survived a call for his position to be abolished just hours before the party’s conference in Brighton began on Saturday.
He will say: “I didn’t choose the row going into this vital week for our party and our country, I didn't want it, I didn’t seek it and I regret it.
“It was damaging, divisive and unnecessary. Unfortunately we cannot pretend it didn’t happen. But let us now draw a line under it.”
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer later said he was “disappointed” a Remain stance was rejected at the Labour conference. But he said will go to Brussels to negotiate a credible “Leave” deal option – to be put to the public at a second referendum – if Labour win an election.
The Remainer told a conference fringe event: “I don’t think there is a deal that’s going to be as good as the deal we’ve got.”
Not everyone has been willing to play nice over party policy.
“If you need a flow chart to explain your position you are going to lose a general election,” a senior Labour figure told the BBC, while one unnamed shadow cabinet member said the leadership was “bonkers and bunkered” over Brexit.
And one Labour MP shared Remainers’ despair with Politics Home editor Kevin Schofield.
Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has called for a “rethink” on the international approach to Iran.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the starting point has to be that Western policy towards Iran is failing and the US policy of maximum pressure which was designed to deter regional malign activity by Iran is clearly not working.”
“So we need to rethink, and the lesson, I think, is that when European and the US go their separate ways on Iran policy, in the end it doesn't work and we need to come together.”
It follows Boris Johnson’s called for a new “Trump deal” to replace the Iran nuclear agreement, potentially shattering EU unity on the issue.
The prime minister told US television: “I think there’s one guy who can do a better deal, and one guy who understands how to get a difficult partner like Iran over the line, and that is the president of the United States.
“So I hope that there will be a Trump deal, to be totally honest with you.”
The comments delighted Donald Trump, who lauded Johnson by saying: “That’s why he’s a winner. That’s why he’ a man who’s going to be successful in the UK.”
BREAKING: The National Crime Agency says it has found “no evidence” of any criminal activity committed by Brexit campaign group Leave.EU during the 2016 referendum.
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